by, Renee Wood

In spite of my physical disability — if I weren’t dealing with the effects of advanced cancer and its treatments — I would run for Governor of Ohio with one simple belief: good governing isn’t about dictating answers from the top; it’s about empowering people, solving real problems, and building relationships strong enough to carry a state forward. Ohio doesn’t need a ruler; it needs a listener. It needs someone who understands that young adults trying to build a life, disabled Ohioans fighting for freedom and fairness, families struggling under economic pressure, and even higher‑income households facing unaffordable healthcare all deserve a government that works with them, not over them. Leadership is not about holding power — it’s about giving people the tools, support, and opportunities they need to stand on their own feet and thrive.

Some of my plans would be:

Housing for young people:

This would not be low‑income government housing. This would be the government encouraging private property owners to build apartments geared toward those between the ages of 18 and 30. To encourage property owners to take on these projects, the state could offer tax relief and other incentives to make this more palatable. Yes, there would be some rules to securing one of these units — such as age, income, employment, or full‑time school — but essentially it would be a small apartment.

Too many young people today are living with their parents for too long. About 49 to 53% of people ages 18 to 29 are living with parents or family members, sometimes into their late twenties or early thirties. Most of the time it’s really not their fault. The income they bring in from a first or second job just doesn’t meet the income necessary to secure housing, buy groceries, and have a modest cell phone with internet. That doesn’t even include utilities, transportation, and other things required to run your own home.

This is truly stunting the growth of this generation. At first I was blaming it on them — they are lazy. But after hearing stories, I realized they didn’t start out lazy; they became lazy after years of hopelessly trying. And to tell the truth, years of living with parents — God bless the parents — can make one lazy. A better term is: living with parents for way too long is disabling young people. I’m not talking about young people who already have a disability, although that too can be even more disabling. I’m talking about typical young people without disabilities who are becoming dependent.

Their growth is being stunted because they are not learning how to budget, manage their time, contribute financially to the household, or understand that there is no “toilet paper fairy” magically restocking the bathroom. In earlier generations, adult children did live with their parents, but they contributed to the household. These were often farming families where adult children helped on the farm, did chores every day, and assisted with younger siblings. Today, in many cases, parents are doing everything while adult children sit on the couch playing video games. This is not beneficial to anyone involved. That dependency is causing disability.

I picture these units being one or two bedrooms — in case they have children. They would rent for about $500 to $800 a month including utilities (in Ohio; this could be adjusted for other areas of the country whose income may be higher). This rent might be more affordable for a young person earning $15 to $18 an hour at their first job. These units would include universal design features so young people with disabilities could also take advantage of them.

This is a major crisis for young people, and we have to stop it now.

Disability System — Particularly Medicaid

Politicians avoid real discussions about disabilities at all costs — at least until they get into office. There is a very good reason for this: how do you argue with pity? No, seriously! Everyone knows that disabling conditions are usually no fault of the individual, so it’s difficult to argue taking away anything from them. You get crying parents, newspeople who put a microphone in your face with absurd comments you didn’t say and certainly didn’t mean the way they took it, and disabled people themselves simply saying, “We are not going back to institutions.”

In general, people with disabilities are not saying “Give us everything” — they just don’t want to go back to institutions and want an equal chance to live the American Dream. For most people with disabilities who are able to work, this includes jobs, paying their fair share of taxes, equal access to accessible housing, transportation, and the ability to get in and out of establishments as they please. It also includes daily support to make life possible in the community. Overall, the costs of community supports are far less than institutions.

However, the cost of these supports is rising with every generation of people with disabilities. Parents are expecting more supports for their child with a disability at a young age, which gets the children accustomed to being supported rather than trying things on their own.

Adults with disabilities — we must be real with the numbers. Medicaid doesn’t only cover people with disabilities. It covers pregnant women, children, low‑income people through Medicaid expansion, along with some older adults.

Nationally, only 15% of enrollees on Medicaid are people with disabilities. These numbers include both home‑ and community‑based care as well as institutions. Yet people with disabilities take up 40% of the budget. In Ohio, 18% of the Medicaid population are people with disabilities, and they take up 47% of the Medicaid budget. It’s a little higher cost in Ohio per person with a disability (about $1,000 to $2,000 more a year per person), but close to the national average. Again, these numbers include both Home and Community‑Based Services and institutions. I do expect people with disabilities to take up more of the overall budget because they have higher needs.

However, the numbers get really interesting when we break it down between institutional care and Home and Community‑Based Care (HCBS). Eighty‑seven percent of Ohioans with disabilities receiving Medicaid services are receiving them through HCBS, yet they only take up 64% of the Medicaid Long‑Term Care Services and Supports budget, including the high costs of the Individual Options Waiver (I/O). This means that 13% of people are in institutions, but they take up 36% of the LTCSS budget.

To break it down further: individuals receiving HCBS cost on average $32,000 a year. People in institutions cost on average $44,000 a year. People receiving services through community‑based care are saving taxpayers $12,000 per individual.

However, we cannot continue to grow in these proportions every year, or else the Medicaid system will crumble. It doesn’t matter if it’s community‑based care or institutions — the system cannot handle yearly increases. I will say, though, we should be leaning toward HCBS rather than institutions, as the current administration is implying institutions are the best option — obviously they haven’t analyzed the numbers.

I’m not going to make any recommendations on how it should be done, although I have some. What I am going to say is that people with disabilities should be at that table and speaking up reasonably for how to cut some of these costs. I heard a while ago that one person on the I/O waiver needed five staff per shift. That would amount to close to a million dollars a year for one person. I think we can find a way to cut that down. Also, people who are not severely cognitively impaired but use wheelchairs probably don’t need 24‑hour care. I think we could find creative ways where they could be alone for three or four hours at a time. Even if we do little things to cut down the costs, it would save a huge amount of money and the system could continue.

The key point is that people with disabilities themselves need to be making the decisions — not politicians, not parents of adult children, not professionals. Individuals living with disabilities need to be making these decisions.

Health-care for All Americans – For the Privileged or the Right of All?

Before the 1940s and 1950s, when technological advancements in medicine drove up costs, healthcare was fairly affordable for the average person. Some people literally paid doctors in chickens and eggs — we are well beyond those days. I’m not saying people didn’t struggle back then, but at least medical care was possible for most families. I don’t remember exactly when private health insurance became common, but I know that when I was young, we had no insurance until I qualified for Medicaid at 18 — and that was only because I had a disability. My family was poor, so getting sick meant we simply didn’t go to the doctor unless we were deathly ill. On those rare occasions, we somehow scraped together the money.

Today, when an ER visit can cost $3,000 to $10,000 before any treatment is even provided — and hospital stays can run into tens of thousands of dollars — there is no way the average Ohioan can afford care without adequate insurance.

To have adequate health insurance, one must either work at a job that offers it, qualify for Medicaid or Medicare, or be able to afford marketplace coverage. Marketplace insurance in Ohio averages $450 to $550 per month for an individual plan — but for many families, premiums can reach $1,500 to $2,000 per month, plus deductibles that often exceed $4,000 to $8,000. For some plans, total monthly costs can reach $3,000 to $4,000 depending on income, age, and coverage level.

Healthcare is unaffordable for people who don’t have employer coverage or don’t qualify for public programs. And it’s not just the middle class — it’s the upper middle class and even some families earning over $100,000 a year who struggle. Health insurance is simply not affordable for millions of Americans.

In Ohio, approximately 7% of residents — about 800,000 people — have no health insurance at all. Most uninsured Ohioans earn less than $35,000 a year, and many fall into the gap where they earn “too much” for Medicaid but nowhere near enough to afford marketplace premiums.

I don’t understand how we can have government food assistance for those too poor to buy groceries, government housing for those too poor to secure shelter, yet no guaranteed healthcare program for non‑disabled people who simply cannot afford medical care. We tie healthcare to employment — but how can someone work if they are too sick to get treatment? If we understand that people cannot work without food and shelter, shouldn’t the same logic apply to healthcare?

I am not dictating whether this should be “Medicare for All,” expanded subsidies, or a new state‑level program. I am saying that every American — man, woman, and child — should be covered. No one should go bankrupt because they got sick. No one should lose their home because they needed surgery. No one should end up permanently disabled because they couldn’t afford early treatment.

We may disagree on how to achieve this, but we should all agree that it must be achieved. As governor, I would call together a diverse coalition to explore what Ohio can do to ensure that every resident has access to affordable healthcare — so no one becomes sicker, poorer, or permanently disabled simply because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor.

In Ohio, we must decide: Is healthcare a privilege — or a right?

War and the Economy — The Protection of Ohioans

As governor, I would not have a say in war on a federal level, but I would be obligated to know what’s going on so I can protect the people of my state and help them through this economic disaster. The tariffs, the continuous war, armed masked federal agents coming to our state and publicly arresting moms and dads, nannies, caregivers, etc., who in most cases came to this country hoping to find what they couldn’t find in their own country — compassion with an opportunity to succeed. Indeed, some have criminally broken the law and need to be immediately deported, and there are ways of doing this without disturbing the peace of all citizens.

Also, if I were governor, I would seek ways to alleviate gas prices in my state — maybe cutting the gas tax for a while. I would also form a committee of farmers to determine how they could get fertilizer, diesel, and other supplies, and brainstorm ideas to lower costs for farmers — in turn lowering food costs for all Ohioans. I may not have much of a say on the federal level, but by God I would not be afraid to stand up and say how these policies are affecting my constituents. At the same time, I cannot wait for the Feds to act. It’s my job to do what I can to alleviate the pain.

Conclusion

These are only a few examples of what I would do as governor to help the people of Ohio. To make good changes, one has to develop relationships, listen, and work with people as we all institute changes to make the state not only a better place, but fiscally and socially responsible. This does not happen with one person seeking all the power. This happens by empowering others and doing what you can to help the community grow and understand the reality of what’s going on so they can help make the change. “We the people” means we all have a part to play, and no one should be shut out.